A single word holds a narrative of the human condition.
This new book by award-winning author Amy Newman explores as its formal structure the 72 definitions for the word "fall." These lovely, accessible poems span a narrative drama—from the creation of the world and the subsequent exile of its first inhabitants, through the downward movement of the human body in its surrender to illness and the world's gravitational pull, to the beauty in the descent of spent foliage in autumn.
Each definition of "fall" engenders its own poem, and the definitions serve as poem titles. Section one explores the theological sense of The Fall, and section two focuses on the present world, addressing how the blemish of that Fall—real or imagined, religious or cultural—exists in us as homesickness, physical illness, and domestic and spiritual dissolution. The third section attends to the very gesture of defining, of finding ways to name and live in a world where both the landscape and the language are vividly alive yet saturated with memory and loss.
To move under the influence of gravity; especially, to drop without restraint
-INTR. INTRANSITIVE
To come to rest; strike bottom; land: The world first fell from the firmament
To drop oneself from an erect to a less erect position: He stumbled and fell
To hang down: Eve's hair fell in ringlets
To be conquered or seized
To yield to temptation; To err or sin
To lose one's chastity. Used especially of a woman
Appendix a
Appendix b
To assume an expression of disappointment: His face fell
To undergo a reduction in amount, degree, or value; To diminish
To divide naturally. Used with into: The specimens fell into three categories
Appendix c
-TR. TRANSITIVE
-fall back. To give ground; recede; retreat
-fall for. Informal. 1. To become infatuated with; fall suddenly in love with. 2. To be tricked or deceived by; be taken in by
-fall among. To come by chance into the company of
-fall behind. To be in arrears
-fall on (or upon). To attack suddenly; ambush
-fall away. 1. To decline; languish; weaken. 2. To withdraw support; part company
-fall under. To succumb to; come under an influence or power
-fall foul. To become entangled
-fall flat. Informal. To fail completely to achieve the intended effect
-fall back on (or upon). 1. To retreat to. 2. To resort to
-fall in with. To come to an agreement
-fall to. 1. To begin (a physical activity) energetically. 2. To shut or move into place by itself
-N. NOUN
That which has fallen
Usually capital F. Theology. Adam's sin of disobeying God by eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, and the consequent loss of innocence and grace of all his descendents
A sudden drop from a relatively erect to a less erect position: He fell to his knees
An ornamental cascade of lace or trimming attached to the dress, usually at the collar
The amount of what has fallen
The end of a cable, rope, or chain that is pulled by the power source in hoisting
The act or instance of falling; a dropping down; free descent
The birth of an animal, especially, the birth of a lamb
Appendix d
Appendix e
A downward movement or a slope
Often capital F. Autumn
NOTES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AMY NEWMAN is Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University and author of Order, or Disorder (1995), which received the Cleveland State University Poetry Center Prize, and Camera Lyrica (1999), which received the Beatrice Hawley Award.
"Newman's language is rich and unique, full of strong imagery and surprising turns of phrase. The real delight in reading this collection is seeing where the definition will lead Newman."
~C.L. Bledsoe, The Hollins Critic
"Amy Newman is an exceptional poet. She has a way of looking into the corners of thoughts and illuminating them, and her imagination excavates the smallest nuance."
~Barbara Jordan, author of Trace Elements
"The formalities of conception and of prosody serve to produce authority; the linguistic densities serve to produce vertiginous wonder."
~Scott Cairns, author of Philokalia: New and Selected Poems
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